The Viterbi Museum

Welcome to the Viterbi Museum, a small hidden jewel at the University of Southern California Andrew and Erna Viterbi School of Engineering

The Viterbi Museum is open by appointment, please contact Viterbi Facilities.

The museum is on the second floor of Ronald Tutor Hall, next to the Baum Student Lounge on the southwest side of the building, adjacent to the elevators.

Designed by A.C. Martin and Associates, the same firm that designed Tutor Hall, it consists of three rooms of display cases, artifacts, photographs, papers, mementos and a video presentation of Andrew Viterbi’s illustrious career. Two of the rooms are graced by stunning original murals covering portions of the walls and ceilings.

Andrew & Erna Viterbi: The Journey and the Legacy

The video below plays on a screen at the entrance of the museum. It describes the journeys of both the Viterbi and Finci families from World War II Europe as well as the impact of their gift on the USC Viterbi School of Engineering.

Tour the Museum

The Family Room

The family room traces the journeys of the Viterbi and Finci families in Italy and Sarajevo prior to World War II, depicting each family’s struggles to reach the United States.

Back-lit displays describe Erna (Finci) Viterbi’s harrowing childhood of persecution in Sarajevo and Montenegro, Italy, where she and her Sephardic Jewish family, found refuge and before eventually immigrating to Los Angeles. The Viterbi family fled from Bergamo, Italy, to New York Harbor in 1938, and then to Boston where young Andrew Viterbi grew up.

Looking up from the center of the room, visitors see an elliptically shaped Impressionist ceiling mural, painted with bold brush strokes by the noted Italian artist Sandro Chia. The domical painting is a celebration of Andrew and Erna’s union, bringing together the swirl of blue sky and sea-green ocean waves as the two reach out for their futures.

A colorful mural on the ceiling of the Viterbi Museum's family room, depicting a young Andrew Viterbi and Erna Viterbi. The mural, painted by Sandro Chia, features swirling blue sky and ocean green, symbolizing the union of heaven and earth. Andrew is shown reclining with a deck of cards, while Erna reaches upwards, her hair and dress flowing as if caught in a gentle breeze.

A colorful swirl of blue sky and ocean green bring heaven and earth together in Sandro Chia’s joyous mural of young Andrew and Erna Viterbi on the ceiling of the Viterbi Museum’s family room.

The mural is lit with white lights to bring out the colorful hues of blue and sea green and the walls supporting the mural are made of Venetian plaster.

The Library

The library is where a selection of Andrew Viterbi’s papers, books and other publications are housed. The room is furnished with an Italian-crafted solid walnut table and chairs, and a built-in walnut bench along the west wall.

A Sandro Chia Impressionist-style ceiling mural depicts faces overlapping each other, symbolizing the vast number of the people that Viterbi has not only influenced in the past, present and future, but has connected.

An impressionist-style mural by Sandro Chia on the ceiling of the Viterbi Museum. The artwork features a chaotic swirl of abstract, colorful faces overlapping and intermingling, symbolizing the vast number of people connected and influenced by the Viterbi legacy. The faces are depicted in shades of blue, green, red, and brown, creating a vibrant and dynamic composition.

Sandro Chia's Impressionist-style ceiling mural of faces representing the vast number of the people that Viterbi has influenced and has connected.

Andrew J. and Erna Viterbi Family Archives

The digital version of the Viterbi Archive can be accessed from the Viterbi Museum and in hard copy in the USC Libraries Special Collections Department.

The Andrew J. and Erna Viterbi Family Archives documents the career and professional activities of Dr. Andrew Viterbi, noted researcher, scholar, innovator, and businessman, as well as provides information about the Viterbi and Finci families.

The professional papers consist of audio materials, awards, certificates, clippings, correspondence, memoranda, manuscript materials, patents, photographs, presentations, publications and reports that are useful in following Dr. Viterbi's career and provide insight into his contributions to the field of digital communication.

The family materials include certificates, clippings, correspondence, diplomas, drawings, photographs, publications, and research materials from the Viterbi and Finci families.

The Gallery

The gallery is the largest of the rooms and is devoted to the technological innovations that Viterbi pioneered.

Glass-encased displays, designed by Howard Sherman and Associates, document key moments in the young scholar’s career with photographs, papers and magazine articles about his work.

Display showcasing Andrew Viterbi's first company, Linkabit, formed with faculty colleagues at UCLA. The exhibit includes various historical items such as an early satellite communication device, a detailed infographic about Qualcomm OmniTRACS, an early mobile communication terminal with a numeric keypad and small screen, and informative text panels describing Linkabit's contributions to technology and telecommunications. The display is arranged in a glass case, highlighting these pioneering technologies and their impact.

This display shows Andrew Viterbi’s first company, Linkabit, which he formed with faculty colleagues at UCLA.

Viterbi and a handful of other prominent pioneers in satellite communication were featured on the cover of a 1958 issue of Life magazine as they studied transmissions in the control room of Explorer 1, the first U.S. satellite to orbit earth.

Viterbi’s groundbreaking paper in 1967 describing an algorithm that would eliminate much of the interference in satellite communications at the time – the Viterbi algorithm – is also part of the collection.

Display highlighting the Viterbi Algorithm, featuring a diagram that visualizes the algorithm's process of decoding received signals through a series of decision nodes and paths. The exhibit includes informative text panels describing the algorithm's significance in improving telecommunications, with applications in digital cellular technology, satellite broadcasting, and data transmission. The display also showcases books and images related to Andrew Viterbi's contributions and achievements. A person is seen observing the exhibit, providing a sense of scale and engagement with the content.

This display showcases the Viterbi Algorithm.

Additional display cases feature many of the electronics that revolutionized cellular communications.

The gallery ceiling features a second Chia mural, which is meant to convey Viterbi’s fascination with the spacelessness of wireless communications.

Colorful mural by Sandro Chia depicting Andrew Viterbi, seated and deep in thought, surrounded by abstract, impressionistic faces that symbolize his fascination with the boundlessness of wireless communications. The vivid, swirling patterns and multitude of faces create a sense of infinite connections and the seamless flow of ideas, reflecting Viterbi's significant contributions to the field of communications technology.

Sandro Chia’s mural in the gallery is meant to depict Andrew Viterbi’s fascination with the spacelessness of wireless communications.

Two “knife-edged” soffits extend outward toward the center of the ceiling, like the underside of a roof overhang, without touching each other. The soffits create a space above the ledge that is illuminated with white lights, allowing visitors to peer over and beyond the horizon.

Published on January 6th, 2017

Last updated on June 20th, 2024